you are utterly missing a business dynamic here in America and elsewhere.. Companies that originate in, with strong-ties to, established finance, literally push skill down the pay stack, not up. What does that mean? If a certain engineering skill is rare, it will cost more money to pay someone, and harder to find. Therefore, commoditize and automate where you can, via cloud accounts and "best practices", outsource to another company where you can, and promote internally for ruthless cost-cutting, firing and aggressive contract manipulations. This is not extreme, this is normal and daily for decades.

The imaginary skilled professional you are describing clearly originates in the mind of an engineering worker.. a person gains skill through experience and is promoted. This is opposite of what management builds over time.. Management specifically and exactly destroys this career path because it costs them more money. As long as you can commoditize and outsource, you drive costs down, not up.

Meanwhile, it is "eternal September" in the job world, with streams of 20-somethings lining up to get into the markets. Add lower cost engineers, for example in Eastern Europe, South East Asia and South Asia. Rinse and repeat.